Editor's note: New Orleans rockers Cowboy Mouth are headed to Iraq to entertain the troops. During the journey, they will be blogging and posting photos on NOLA.com.

Fred LeBlanc

Friday, March 6, 2009

To say that its been an eventful last couple of days would be quite the understatement. There were 2 flights over. The first flight was 8 hrs and took us to Amsterdam, where our hero decided that airport pizza at 7 in the morning in a foreign country would be a good idea. The second flight consisted of me dealing with the effects of a really nasty bout of food poisoning for the entirety of the 6 hr fly time.

When we finally got to Kuwait, I felt like I had quite literally had my insides punched out. So the wait in the airport for our visas and all of the other requisite hassles of traveling with a rock band to a foreign country were only amplified by my condition.

Waiting in the airport I noticed more than a few odd things, or at least odd to my way of thinking. First was that women seem to be considered almost second class citizens over here, especially with those who are very religious and wear their religiosity on their sleeve...or rather, their veils. Whereas the men here move at their own pace, women who subscribe to the whole 'men are superior' notion always walk behind and have a hard look in their eyes and body language. I can't see any American women (especially New Orleans or Southern women in general) standing for that kind of treatment for any real length of time. We've been told of the rise in random assaults on women in Kuwait and Iraq as of late, so we all make sure to keep a close protective eye on Regina.

Before we head to Iraq we are staying on an American military base funded by the Kuwaitis for the purpose of training local soldiers. The second oddness I encountered was that the drive to the military base reminded me alot of driving thru Arizona. Its really is just a desert out here, nothing else. There are tents all over the sides of the highway that the locals use for weekend family reunions or to go camping. Literally, just tents on the side of the highways in the middle of this vast desert. It really is just a desert! Amazing. You see all of this desolate locale then all of these houses or whatever pop up, then vast stretches of desert again. Makes you appreciate the landscape of Louisiana all the more.

I gotta say, though, that I've been quite impressed with the military organization and ability to get things done. To build bases out here in the middle of nothing and to have them run as effectively as they do is something ya gotta see to believe. As Dwight (our stage manager) says, "our military is badass." I could not have said it better.

One of the other things that struck me as unusal is that there are pictures on the main highway of the king and crown prince on every other light pole. And I thought to myself, "the king and crowned prince." I mean, whatever side of the political fence you're on I'd have to say that it'd be pretty strange to see a picture of either Bush or Obama on every other light pole on I-10. Anyway, the king (or emir, as they call him here) is the absolute ruler here and his word IS law. I can tend to be a pretty contrary person sometimes. Like if someone tells me I HAVE to do something, I'll tend to do the exact opposite. It's just my nature. Glad I don't live in Kuwait. Or anywhere in The Middle east for that matter...

Alcohol is forbidden in Kuwait and if you're caught with any significant amount, you go to jail. I'm not holding my breath on any Kuwaiti Mardi Gras celebrations anytime soon. Toto, I don't think we're in New Orleans anymore! Oh well, their loss.

Also, they are very strict on crime here. The jails are notoriously harsh and from what I'm told, its pretty easy to disappear there. As a result, there isn't much crime here. Take from it what you will.

Anyway, the show tonight was alot of fun, although I'm still fighting off the effects of food poisoning. You can't give anything less than your best though. If these people can come out here and put their lives on the line for months and years at a time then I can surely suck up not feeling well and put on one hell of a rock n roll show with one hell of a rock n roll band. I can feel sick later.

Most of the troops at the base we played tonight are from Hawaii,with the exception of a group from Romania ("You guys may know a good friend of mine, Dracula. He sucks."). This camp is a last stop for many soldiers before they get shipped back to the states so spirits are usually pretty high here, we're told. The commander of the base said, however, that we helped lift the spirits of everyone here tonight because they recently lost a popular soldier in an auto accident a few weeks ago. In fact, another soldier who was very close to the one who passed away was dancing, screaming, and letting it go all night long. Ya know, its good to be able to make people feel good for living. I hope I never take it for granted.